What happens when an airplane gets too old to fly?
In many cases, operators can harvest valuable parts, especially engines and landing gear. And those parts can be sold, recertified as airworthy, and reused in other planes.
In fact, there’s a thriving market for used aircraft parts worth $4 billion a year and growing.
But until recently, shopping for used aerospace parts was like a trip back to the 1990s. There was nothing wrong with the parts: Every piece must be carefully documented and certified before being sold.
The problem was the websites put up by vendors.
They looked a lot like Craigslist, only with no prices or images. Only the most basic information, such as a part’s condition, was posted online with the seller’s phone number.
Even if a buyer found a part they needed, they still had to phone, fax, or e-mail back and forth with the seller to make a deal. That process took days, sometimes even weeks.
To help shift the industry into modern times, Honeywell Aerospace set up a modern-looking and secure B2B marketplace for used aircraft parts called GoDirect Trade™.
Buyers can now browse detailed listings and add items to their online shopping carts. The marketplace quickly took off, recording $1 million in sales in the first 10 weeks. And every transaction is recorded on an immutable blockchain built with Hyperledger Fabric.
Like many people, Lisa Butters is an experienced online shopper.
But as an IT executive in aerospace, she had some pointed questions:
Instead, shopping for used aircraft parts was decidedly old-fashioned. The websites that did exist were dense with text but thin on details. Vital information like specs, service history, pricing, and availability was sketchy. Even photos of parts were rare.
“In this $4 billion industry, less than 2.5% of all transactions are done online,” says Butters. “Think about that. Business is still done the old-fashioned way.
“It used to take two phone calls and four e-mails to close any deal. The process took on average two days. Larger parts could take weeks of sending quotes and exchanging documentation.”